Moments of Truth
by BrightandSparklyThings
Summary: Jack thought his life was over. He was alone, again. Then two tiny words turns his life upside down again. Janto.


_Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring._

_Beep! Please leave your message after the tone. Thank you._

_Beep!_

"Jack? Jack, it's Gwen. Please Jack. You need to answer me. It's been months. You have to get over it! I'm hurting too, Jack, but I need to get on with my life. Just like you. Please pick up the phone. I know you're there. Please, Jack, plea.."

Jack disconnected the answering machine, and slumped back into his chair, burying his haggard face into his hands. He bit back the sob that threatened to over-spill, and tried to delete the message from his mind. It was true. It had been months. Months since he'd come back, months since Gwen had had her son, months since...

He couldn't force back this whimper of pain, and allowed it to roam free in the deserted Hub. It echoed around the desolate room, bouncing off the broken and empty desks. Tosh, Owen... Ianto. His Ianto. His team. They were practically all gone. Only Gwen remained, but she wouldn't be back in for a month. He was all alone. He would always be alone.

The rift manipulator startled the Captain out of his melancholy thoughts, and dragged him, kicking and screaming, back to the present. Groggily, he turned round, and stared blankly at the machine. A Weevil, if those waves were anything to come by. A hollow chuckle spilled from his lips. His life was over, and he still had to deal with the scum of the universe.

He paused in his reverie, and thought about that line. Scum of the universe... Who had said that? When had they said it? With a startled gasp, he was suddenly at Gwen's wedding. No. Not the wedding. After the wedding.

"_That's what I love about Torchwood. By day, you're chasing the scum of the universe, come midnight you're the wedding fairy."_

Ianto. Jones, Ianto Jones. His dry humour, the sarcastic comments, his little quirks. Everything he loved. Even as Ianto was... Here, Jack gulped, but forced his mind to continue. Even as Ianto was... _dying_ he was brave, fearless, and full of black humour. The supposedly shy and meek tea-boy was the first in the relationship to say the three words. _I love you. _How many people had Jack said that to? Hundreds, he supposed. How many had he said it to and _meant_ it. Far less, no doubt. But for once, Jack hadn't said it. He hadn't come close to saying it. He never meant to say it. But he meant it. By God, he meant it.

The machine beeped angrily again, almost impatiently. Jack shot a glare at it, but grabbed his coat anyway.

"_By the way, love the coat."_

Jack paused again, but refused to get side-tracked, and continued moving, absent mindedly fingering the frayed cuffs of his coat.

Once in the SUV, Jack called Gwen. Her frantic voice filled his head, almost blocking out the memories. He laughed humouressly, and tried to calm her down. She begged him not to be reckless, pleaded with him not to go overboard. Jack hung up once he realised he couldn't make those promises.

But then, what was new? He could never keep promises. It was like when Rose took his mortality, she took his morality. Everything that made him human.

A large crash stole his attention, and he swerved violently to avoid it. A gnarled face appeared at his window, and disapeared as quickly as it had arrived. As Jack tried to follow it, a different car overtook him and raced down the road to follow the alien. He almost beeped his horn, but paused in his actions when he noticed a strange design on the windows. A blue, diamond design, that was so familiar to him. A large, blue, T.

Jack nearly broke his foot when he slammed down onto the accelerator. A million thoughts raced through his head, each demanding to be listened to first. He forced his subconciousness to ignore the niggling thoughts, and concentrated on only following the oh-so-familiar T.

When the car finally stopped, Jack remained in the drivers seat, hiding behind his tinted windows, but desperately trying to hear in on their conversations. A tall, slender woman hopped out of the car first, and trotted over to the now-still alien. She calmly tapped something into her PDA, then turned back to the car.

A rugged, dark haired man followed her beckoning finger, and joined her at the Weevil. He nodded, laughed gently at something she had said, then snapped a pair of handcuffs onto the un-resisting alien. He commented on something, then gestured at someone else in the car to join them.

A blonde, petite female sauntered out of the car, in a suit designed for someone much younger than her. Jack stifled a naughty school boy giggle, and wound down his window to ear wig on them. The man whispered something to the first woman, then turned back to face the blond with a fake innocent look plastered on his face.

"Nice of you to join us, Clara. Finally left your makeup?" The first woman and the man smothered chuckles, and attempted to look professional. Jack and Clara both snorted at this attempt.

"Ha-bloody-ha, so effing funny. Wow, you're realy comic geniuses, you know that?" She clenched her fists, and placed them on slender hips. "Robert, Janie." The pair saluted, then collapsed in a fit of laughter. Clara sighed, and tapped her ear-device. "You see what I have to put up with, guys?" She sighed again, and slapped the chuckling duo on the arms. At their protests, she merely smiled demurely.

Robert sighed, and turned back to the now unconcious alien. Jack did a double-take. When the hell had that happened? "Well," Robert began. "This is, as we can all tell, a Weevil. Nothing big, nothing major. So why did they feel compelled to send three people?" Janie and Clara shrugged in unison, then Janie connected whoever was on the end of the ear-devices.

"No big deal, guys. It's unconcious, so we'll be back in a sec." Jack sighed quietly, and made to wind his window back up. Her next line froze his blood, stopped his heart beat, and made him feel dizzy. "D'you think we could have a bit of coffee when we get back? Cheers, Ianto."

The trio picked up the fallen alien, sat in the car, and drove off, like nothing had happened. And, Jack ammended, nothing probably did for them. But for him, his life was turned upside down. His subconciousness repeated those two words, over and over.

"_Cheers Ianto. Cheers Ianto. Cheers Ianto. Cheers Ianto..."_


End file.
